Real-life 'Polar Express'

Sally Barber | Cadillac News Horizon Books store manger Lynda Sherburne compares the illustrated locomotive in Christmas classic The Polar Express to the real-life engine it was modeled after, the Pere Marquette 1225. PM 1225 makes frequent visits to Cadillac for tours and excursions.

If you think the locomotive in the just-released Tom Hanks' film "The Polar Express" looks familiar, you're right. The engine the movie version was based on has visited Cadillac several times.

Local residents will recognize the Pere Marquette 1225 as the power source for the excursion train that has visited Cadillac about twice a year since 2002. Operated by Lake Central Rail Tours in conjunction with the Steam Railroading Institute of Owosso and the Tuscola & Saginaw Bay Railway, the locomotive made its last "all aboard" call in Cadillac in August.

PM 1225 was catapulted into movie history when it became a part of the Warner Bros. film "The Polar Express" produced by Hanks and Steven Spielberg. The computer-generated movie is based on Grand Rapids author Chris Van Allsburg's children's Christmas classic. Box office sales have spurred local book sales.

"The Polar Express has been really hot," said Horizon Books store manager Lynda Sherburne. "I've had people grab handfuls of them. It's been tough keeping them in."

Was the Michigan-made locomotive, a major element in Allsburg's Christmas fable, destined for stardom from the time it was built? Completed in Oct. 1941 by the Lima Locomotive Works in Ohio, it was numbered 1225 - the numerical signature for Christmas Day.

Executive Director of the Steam Railroading Institute Dennis Braid, occasional real-life conductor of the 1225, was contracted by Warner Bros. as a technical advisor on the film. When the company's art department researched museums for a locomotive model,

Braid was the first to respond with the required elements, which included photos, drawings and a video. A few weeks later, he was under contract and the Polar Express was on its way to becoming an animated icon.

Artists used PM 1225's blueprints to design the movie version. They attempted to accurately represent the actual 1225 as well as the illustrated version.

"Our locomotive was altered slightly in certain aspects," Braid said.

"It has a much longer cow catcher on it and they relocated the whistle a bit," Braid said. "But where they do most of the scenes - in front of the locomotive and in the cab, it is pretty close."

Last July 20, Skywalker Sound, the George Lucas audio group, spent a day on site in Owosso taping the 1225's sounds.

"We did everything with our steam locomotive you could think of. We ran it fast and we ran it slow. We uncoupled cars. We slid down the coal pile and blew the whistle," Braid said. "We did everything we could think of to make sounds for them. All the sounds you hear in the movie railroad scenes is our steam locomotive."

PM 1225 was a real-life hero long before it became the model for a blockbuster movie. During World War II when Detroit's industrial community geared production toward military needs, the steam engine played a key role in the "Arsenal of Democracy," transporting trucks and tanks produced at the Ford Motor Company destined for France or the South Pacific.

Today, 1225 is one of four active mainline steam locomotives of its size in America, and it serves yet another role as Michigan's Railroad History Train. The Owosso-based Steam Railroading Institute owns the locomotive, which is the centerpiece of its museum, aimed to bring railroading history and heritage to life for the state's residents. Beginning with the 2005-06 school year, the Institute's linear railroad museum will hit the tracks. It features a classroom and display cars and will travel the old Ann Arbor and Penn Central lines from Ann Arbor to Petoskey in an educational outreach to 130,000 K-12 students living in communities within 30 minutes of the lines.

If all goes as hoped, 1225 will become a future funding source for Institute activities. The Institute is in negotiations with Warner Bros. for rights to officially designate 1225 as the Polar Express and obtain use of the name for promotions.

PM 1225 is scheduled to return to Cadillac next May. In honor of its newfound celebrity, Cadillac will host a special celebration, according to Ted Newman, executive director of the Cadillac Area Visitor's Bureau. He expects the celebrity status of the locomotive to generate new interest in the local train tours.

"It's too good of an opportunity to pass by," he said. "You can't buy that kind of publicity."

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